“We don’t have many landfills in Massachusetts,
but we do have a lot of landfill restrictions,” declared Dan
Costello, president of Costello Dismantling, based in Middleboro,
Massachusetts. “Instead of landfills, there is a network of construction
and demolition (C&D) processing and recycling facilities,
not only in Massachusetts, but around the region that have developed
to meet the need of recycling C&D material.”

When it comes to landfill restrictions, Massachusetts
appears to be the strictest in the United States, although many
see it as enlightened environmental policy, a forerunner of America’s
landfill future. “Statewide, I think we have the toughest restrictions
in the country,” said Costello.

Jim Colman, assistant commissioner of the
Bureau of Waste Prevention for the Massachusetts Department of
Environmental Protection (MassDEP) said, “If it’s not the strictest,
I can tell you it’s among the strictest for sure, but we have
not surveyed all the states to know definitively that it is.” ...read
more

PCBs in caulk: a looming issue for the construction and demolition
industry

by Mike Breslin

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) contained
in building materials, particularly caulk, are rapidly becoming
a large issue for the demolition and construction industry, and
for society as a whole. At the same time, environmental remediation
of PCBs presents C&D contractors with a widening stream of
new revenue opportunities.

John Lloyd, owner of Lloyd’s Construction
Services of Savage, Minnesota, is also chairman of the environmental
committee of the National Demolition Association. Lloyd said,
“If there’s scientific data that proves that PCBs in caulk are
harmful to the environment and getting into our waterways, we
have to deal with it. Many firms belonging to the Association
do environmental remediation. If it is proven harmful we will
be there to service that need and do it properly, but we do not
want to see unnecessary regulation that raises costs for building
owners and eventually for the consumer.”
...read more